Brute and a gentleman
by Oneechan94
Summary: ZoSan real world! Sanji is an all-the-ladies-man in a famous restaurant while Zoro is a straight-forward self-defence-teacher. How will love bloom between these two males and how will their friends and families react to their unexpected relationship? Mature content ahead but first building up some tension :P
1. Dark streets of the night

Okay so this is the first chapter of my new fanfic and there will be ZoSan :3 Events occur in the real world, I can't tell how this story will develop since I am writing along with the mood! :D I would be more than happy to receive ideas from those who read this fic :3 If you are familiar with my another real world fanfic, "Strawhat's police station", you might notice some similarities but don't pay attention to them, right? :3 I think I will publish a new chapter at least every second week, maybe even more often if I get inspired! :3

And as always, reviews/follows/favorites are appreciated and they are also the best way to support my work! :D

One Piece belongs to the great Eichiroo Oda-sama but the idea of the fanfic is mine! :3

_Something written like this are thoughts of some specific person :)_

...

It was late afternoon and the dressing room had fell silent when a certain, green-haired man stepped in and removed his sweaty t-shirt. Sweat drops were glistening on his skin and his hair was stuck against his head but the green hair of his stole all the attention from his well-trained muscles and made the contrast look almost ridiculous.

Roronoa Zoro taught self-defense and kendo in a private school of Dracule Mihawk. His students were mostly women who wanted to feel more secure while walking down the streets alone in the middle of the night and boys who wanted to learn how to fight.

The work was mostly fine but also exhausting. Everyday after work all he could do was go to sleep until he had to wake up again. Well, it was pretty unusual for a grown-up man to sleep more than ten hours a day but it didn't seem to bother the man with the weird sleeping habit.

"You do surprise me, Roronoa," he heard a familiar voice and shut down the shower. "You teach self-defense yet you forget to lock the doors after you when you go to shower."

"Shut up Mihawk," Zoro hissed while covering himself with his green coloured towel. "It's not like it would be easy to attack me of all the people, right?" he reasoned and Mihawk smirked slightly but returned back to his usual, serious facial impression.

"The day is over, pick up your stuff and lock the doors when you leave," Mihawk ordered coldly and left the room.

Zoro didn't exactly hate his boss. Mihawk was a real professional and he had really professional approach to his work. He admired the older man really much but sometimes the man was just too cold by the nature. But still, he knew how to do his work and he did it perfectly on the boot.

The green-haired man started to dress up slowly and when finished, he sat down on a chair and sighed deeply. He felt somehow bored with his life: arriving to work every morning at ten o'clock in the morning, doing his work and returning to his apartment after six o'clock, barely taking a bite of something eatable and going straight to bed. His life had no surprises, he had fallen victim to routines.

Oh how he missed to be young again.

...

"EGGPLANT!" was a loud shout heard inside a certain restaurant, leaving the customers with confused expressions on their faces and while they tried to savour the taste of food earlier, now they were listening at the ruckus upstairs.. "WHAT IS GOING ON IN THAT SHITTY HEAD OF YOURS?!"

"THAT'S WHAT I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU, SHITTY GEEZER!" another shout was heard. Then the noises ended but soon after loud crashed followed.

Blackleg Sanji was having another meaningless fight with his father, famous head-chef of the famous Baratie-restaurant, Redleg Zeff. It was nothing unusual for them to fight since they fought about almost anything possible - from small chance in the taste of their most ordered food to one spot of dirt on the kitchen floor.

"I told you to notice male customers too! There are not only women to be served there!" Zeff praised and Sanji mumbled something under his breath, probably cursing.

"Shut up, geezer!" Sanji hissed. "I do notice male customers too, I just don't pay any attention to them! And there are others who could take care of men!" Sanji tried to reason with his old man but received a hard kick on his head as an answer.

"Whatever, just get back to work if you want to keep your title!" Zeff said in a threatening tone and Sanji barged out of the room and shut the door with a hard slam. "DON'T BREAK THE DOOR, YOU IDIOT!" Zeff added, forgetting that usually he was the one to kick through the door and destroy it so that it could no longer be fixed.

Sanji continued his work in an instant, taking the next order and starting to cook. Patty and Carne, his assistants, were nowhere to be seen so Sanji expected them to be taking orders or taking an unauthorised break in the break-room.

"AND YOU TWO! DON'T TEST MY NERVES NOW BY STOPPING WORKING DURING OUR PEEK-HOURS!" Zeff raged and Sanji guessed that his latter guess had been right. "BACK TO THE KITCHEN THIS SECOND!"

Soon after, Pati and Carne fled to the kitchen by Zeff's kick and quickly rushed towards the ordering line to take their orders to prepare.

"Sanji, could you give us a hand here?!" Carne begged, at least almost. "The line if full of orders from your special menu! I can take over whatever you are preparing at the moment, please take your orders!"

"Roger that!" Sanji said with a slight grin on his face and gave the hot pan to Carne who vowed to take care of other orders with Pati.

Sanji's special menu was actually pretty famous. While some of the customers wanted to eat some regular food and there should be some normal food which children would eat almost for sure, Sanji's list was special, it was full with food made by his self-created recipes and it was perfect for those who wanted to try something new.

The blond chef was pretty confident about his own cooking skills even though the shitty geezer never praised his food - he only said what was wrong with the food.

The day was busy like any other day at Baratie's harbour restaurant. The place had a good location and it was known for its top-quality food so people, tourists and locals, fancied eating there. And unlike many other five-stars restaurants, the prizes were something even a commoner could afford.

"I am off," Sanji shouted when he was finished changing back to his casual clothing and heading out. Even though he lived in the uppstairs of the restaurant, he was out a lot, going for a dates with women and looking around for a cheap apartment on his own.

"After some women again, aren't you?" Pati teased and Sanji sticked out his tongue like a immature teenager.

"As if you have any luck with women, Pati," Sanji teased back and heard his colleague shouting something back at him but didn't hear the rest of what the man said.

The evening was calm, chilly night with lots of people out. Well, of course there would be since it was Friday evening and most people wanted to relax after stressful week at work by going out and enjoying themselves. The streets near the bars were already flooded when Sanji arrived there and looked around for a fitting company.

He saw a small group of three women near the entrance of his favourite bar, Shakky's Rip-Off bar. They were all stunning in their own ways and Sanji saw his chance to approach them.

"Excuse me ladies but would you like to go with me for a drink?" Sanji suggested, bowing his head slightly like a gentleman.

"Oh my, that would be lovely!" one of them cheered, earning gazes from the other two.

"Then it's my treat," Sanji vowed and the looks on the other women's faces brightened also while they headed inside the small bar.

"Ah, Sanji-chan, welcome," Shakky greeted the familiar face. "Regular for you and what would you ladies want?" she inquired as if it would be a norm that the man brought women with him and offered to pay for their drinks.

The group of four sat down around an empty table and took sips of their drinks before starting to chat.

"My name is Amanda," one of them, the one who had taken the offer cheerfully, introduced herself. "I work as a waitress," he added to tell some basic information about herself.

"I am Jenny and she is Grace, we both work in that big shopping centre near the Grand Line," the brown-haired woman introduced herself and pointed at the quiet woman next to her. "Don't mind her, she can't speak," she added with a slighty bullying tone but Sanji paid no attention to it.

"My name is Sanji, I am the head-chef at Baratie," Sanji said while placing a gentle kiss on Grace's back of the hand, making the shy woman blush.

They chatted for a while before Sanji realised that the women were not what she was looking for as usual. Of course he liked all the ladies but none woman he had met had made his heart skip a beat or make him feel like "I want to know her better". Besides, two of these women, Amanda and Jenny, seemed to be only after money but Grace seemed like a kind woman.

"Sorry ladies, but I have to excuse myself," Sanji apologizes and Amanda gasped.

"At this early hour?!" she whined and bent over with a flirty expression on her face. It was a bit past two a.m. "Could you take me to my apartment so that I don't have to walk alone among all those scary men?"

Of course Sanji was not a man to let down a woman so he agreed to take all three women to their apartment ( all of them lived basically in the same apartment ) even though he knew that he would have to turn down their next request.

Sanji turned them down as politely as he could and left the three women with dumbfounded looks on their beautiful faces. It was a pity, but Sanji wasn't looking for one-night-stand, he was looking for true love among all the beautiful women on this planet.

While walking, the blond realised that Baratie was in the direction of one, dark street and he decided to take the shorter route even though the street had a bad reputation even among bad people.

...

The green-haired self-defence teacher was walking along the streets were most of the people were drunk or close to being drunk. Well, Roronoa Zoro could not even dream of getting drunk with the regular drinks at the bars like other people - he would need lots more to drink and it had to be something pretty strong to make him even slightly drunk - something like sake would be perfect but it was hard to get around there.

Roronoa Zoro took a short cut which only few people apart from him would dare to take. It was a dangerous street with lots of drugs and violate people who fought anyone who bothered them.

So the man was not surprised to notice that the gangsters had surrounded someone this time around too and were clearly threatening the person trapped.

"This is our street, so you have to pay," one of the men spoke out. "even if it means that we have to take the payment by force and make you pay with... something else than money," the man added and grinned widely, staring at the surrounded figure with lusty eyes.

"Shut your traps," the surrounded man said, not sounding the least scared by the threats. "I am in a bad mood today so you should just let me go before I get seriously pissed off!"

_"It was a man?"_ Zoro though by himself but decided to follow further and involve into the fight if needed.

"Eh~" the man voiced out with a flirty tone. "We might be able to relieve your stress," the man suggested and the closest one to their captive grabbed their captives hand and made the skinny man gasp.

Zoro was about to step in at that point but was surprised to realise that the surrounded person was not some average person when it came to fighting. He stared at the scene in disbelief, seeing the gangsters being sent flying by forceful kicks on their ugly faces. Their "captive" had a clear upper hand in the fight and when they realised it, they escaped with their tails between their legs.

"Serves you right!" the blond man hissed and patted some dust off his clearly expensive suit.

Zoro took his time to stare at the man in front of him even though it might seem a bit impolite. The man had blond hair which covered the left side of his face, weird eyebrows, skinny but apparently muscular body and firm look in his blue eyes.

But the blond man had also noticed the green-haired man who was staring at him without saying a word. Sanji found it rude so he didn't see any problem with being rude himself. Especially with a man.

"I didn't expect to see Marimo grow in these dark streets," Sanji noted and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

"Well I didn't expect to see some shitty princess throwing kicks on people either," Zoro stated voice full of sarcasm. "What are you doing here? These streets are dangerous," Zoro inquired even though he didn't know if the man was going to answer him. But he was eager to continue their small conversation, who knew why.

"Same goes for you," Sanji hissed and blowed his smoke slowly. "I just decided to take a short cut and I am fully capable of defending myself," Sanji answered the question even though he hadn't planned to.

"Yeah me too," Zoro admitted and Sanji could see firm muscles beneath his clothes.

There was a short silence before the green-haired man spoke out awkwardly, not full-aware of the fact why he even asked for something like what he was going to ask. "So, would you like to go for a drink?" he asked, making the blond almost suffocate to his own smoke.

...

"This is unbelievable..." Sanji sighed.

"What is?" Zoro grumbled under his breath, taking a sip of his beer.

"I have never been asked out for a drink before by a man," Sanji admitted. "And the other man paying for me on the boot!"

"Shut up,it was my first time asking man out for a drink too!" Zoro ordered. "I just felt like it and I just got my wage from work," Zoro tried to explain his sudden action and rubbed his neck awkwardly.

"What's your job?" Sanji inquired, not sure if he was being rude to ask or not. "The name is Sanji, btw," he introduced himself quickly.

"I am a self-defence and kendo teacher," Zoro said confidently. "The name is Zoro," he added, copying Sanji's introduction. "How about you?"

"I work as a head-chef at Baratie," Sanji stated simply which earned an impressed whistle from the swordsman.

"That five-stars restaurant at the harbour? The restaurant on the ship?" Zoro specified and Sanji nodded. "I have heard about it and planned to visit it but never really gone there."

"Well you should," Sanji advised."The food is the best," Sanji added and Zoro felt slightly impressed.

"Maybe I will," Zoro stated quietly and they took few sips of their drinks in silence before continuing their chatting.

...

**Author's note:**

Well? Was it good or not? :D I thought of making Zoro and Sanji meet up early so that you readers won't get bored with the story and waiting for them to meat each other :) I will give you some more "background information" in the later chapter thou so it won't be proceeding too fast even though the first chapter proceeded pretty fast :) Please let me know if you have any requests related to this fic, there will be proper mature content later on but I want to build up the tension first ;) And if you have some specific character in your mind from One Piece you would like to have in this fanfic, please let me know ( naturally all of the Strawhats are in his story in some ways 3 )


	2. New faces

"_This is Halloween, this is Halloween..." _ and chapter two! I am really into this story since I have never written proper real world ZoSan :3 You can expect the third chapter inside two weeks :3

...

Zoro entered his workplace early Saturday morning. Usually most of the private schools were not open during weekends but in Dracule Mihawks self-defense and kendo-school they held it open on Saturday so that those who had work could come there during the weekend.

"Ah, Zoro!" Perona the secretary with weird pink hair, greeted the man. "That doctor-trainee came here to discuss about the lesson he will keep here."

"Thank you," Zoro said, expecting that Perona had instructed the man to go to his office already and wait for him.

He opened the door to his room and saw the familiar face of Chopper's staring at him. "Morning, Chopper," Zoro greeted the younger man politely and Chopper greeted him in a similar way before the green-haired man sat down behind his desk. "So, how is your studies?" he inquired even though they were supposed to hold a proper business meeting. Ever since he had got to known the doctor-trainee with lots of motivation to study more about medicines, he could do nothing else but like the younger man.

"They are going well, thanks for asking!" Chopper cheered. "I have catched up with my studies and now I will graduate a bit earlier than expected!"

"That's to be expected of course," Zoro smiled slighty and they decided to continue to their business meeting.

Even though Chopper was just a trainee, his abilities and knowledge was trusted well-enough for him to be allowed to keep lectures in some schools, both private and public. After meeting the small man for only few minutes most people could realise that he was someone who was really into his work and studies.

Chopper was smaller than average man and he had slightly tanned skin and light brown hair. He had deep brown eyes and somewhat muscular body regardless of his small looks. Yet weirdly he had a somewhat blue-coloured nose and nobody knew why. Some people suggested that he had tattooed it, some people claimed that he was even born with it.

"So, it's nice that you are free to keep the class for us, doctor Chopper," Zoro said professionally.

"No problem!" Chopper reassured with a foolish grin on his face. "I like to do this kind of work and let the people know new things about health!" Chopper explained before they shoke hands and Chopper left to plan the lecture he was allowed to keep at the private school.

Zoro followed his plan of the day, meaning that he would have women's self-defense class next. He didn't really get along with women well but it was only work so he had decided to bear with the more annoying gender.

What annoyed him the most that some of the women were clearly participating the classes only to get his attention and admire his muscled body during the lessons. Of course some of them were also serious about learning to protect themselves but some of them were only drooling after their teacher. It annoyed Zoro way too much but all he could do was to do his job and not pay them any extra attention while being polite towards them.

"Zoro!" he heard a familiar shout and turned around to see yet another familiar face.

_This woman is annoying in a bit different way than others..._the green-haired man thought by himself but forced a polite smile on his face.

"What are you doing here, Nami?" Zoro wondered out aloud. "I thought that you had learned everything."

"It's not bad to revise, is it?" Nami asked with an innocent look on her face.

"Your name is not on the list," Zoro noticed when reading trough the list of whom participated the class that day.

"Don't be so strict about it!" Nami said and stack her tongue out like a child. "Besides I know that you are allowed to give one free ticket a month and...you owe me, a lot," Nami noted and Zoro grumbled something under his breath.

"Fine then," he admitted his defeat against the woman. "Get in the line with others so that we can start the lesson."

...

Sanji slept late that morning, feeling a slight hangover squeezing his head.

"Damn it, that one more drink with that Marimo was way too much..." Sanji cursed out aloud and took a glass of cold water.

It had been surprisingly entertaining to have a drink with a man. Usually men were more brute, they drank too much and couldn't talk seriously but that man had been somehow different.

_Well the shitty Marimo drank way more than me and he smelled of alcohol even when I met him but he didn't seem even slightest drunk...and he was an idiot, he was just a different sort of idiot._

He heard a gentle knock on the door and opened it slowly, holding his head.

"What, does little eggplant have a hangover?" Zeff mocked while grinning widely.

"Shut up, shitty geezer," Sanji hissed. "I had a drinking competition with a plant and what do you want with me at this early hour?"

"You were awake anyways, right?" Zeff noted and Sanji had to admit he was right. "We are short of staff and I know you never skip a chance to earn some extra."

"Yeah yeah right," Sanji cursed. "I will be down there in a minute, just give me half an hour to take a shower, eat and take a painkiller okay?"

"Shower is something you really need, you stink," Zeff noted and closed the door.

"Thanks geezer," Sanji said sarcastically to deaf ears.

He took a quick shower, changed his clothes and ate something to go down with the painkiller and rushed downstairs to do some extra-work. Zeff was right, Sanji never skipped a chance to do some extra work and earn more money even though he wasn't exactly poor by any means. Actually one day a week was enough to make a living for himself but he was a man of expensive taste and especially a man of expensive clothes.

"Go and serve our special customer this second, eggplant!" Zeff ordered when Sanji rushed downstairs.

"A lady?!" Sanji shouted cheerfully but his expression changed when he saw the man sitting in the corner.

"Good morning, Sanji-san!" the skinny man greeted the familiar chef.

"Brook! What are you doing here?" Sanji inquired curiously from the skinny man with weirdly big afro.

"I wanted to eat before work and I knew that this was the place if I wanted to receive good food and good service," Brook explained and Sanji pulled out a piece of paper to take his orders.

"By the way, when is the next time 'Soul King' could perform here?" Sanji asked while lowering his voice to a mere whisper.

"He should have free time on next Saturday," Brook hinted and winked at the blond who smirked slightly.

"Then I will expect him to perform that day around eight o'clock, right?" Sanji asked and the man nodded.

It was somehow weird how the man had trusted him in on a secret only rare people knew. Sanji had only met Brook occasionally but yet the man had revealed that he was the famous musician "Soul King" to him of all the people. It was weird because Sanji was used to people trying to cover their backs the best they could yet this man trusted him by mere instinct.

Sanji took Brook's order and prepared it personally since it was an early hour and there were not many customers around yet. And he knew that the man would appreciate his gesture unlike many other brutes called males.

It was unlike his earlier behaviour but he even expected to meet Zoro, his new "acquaintance", again and spend some time with him. He usually had this feeling with only the people he became friends with later.

_It's a shame but we didn't exchange phonenumbers...but asking for a man's phone number when the man offered you some drinks just a bit ago would be weird, right? At least I know where he works so that I can ask around if I really feel like talking to him..._

What surprised Sanji, however, that around midday a very familiar face with very familiar green hair appeared inside just when he was taking orders and working at the customer service site.

But what surprised Sanji even more was that the man had a woman with him. The woman had nearly as weird hair as the man with him but he would never think that woman's hair looked weird, it was unthinkable!

"Marimo, what are you doing here?" Sanji greeted casually. "Is this lovely woman your girlfriend? It would surprise me because for what I saw you were not really popular among women."

The woman hid her face, apparently due to slight embarrassment. "She is not my girlfriend," Zoro noted. "She is Perona and she works as secretary at Mihawks. And I have a name too," he added sarcastically.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Perona-chan," Sanji took the woman's hand and kissed her back of the hand like a gentleman, his attitude changing the second he knew the woman was not Zoro's girlfriend - he would not touch woman who was already taken, after all. "What brought you here today?" he inquired.

"This idiot mentioned this place and we have our lunch break now and I decided to take him here. I have tried to lure him here earlier but this idiot wouldn't go with me!" Perona complained and Sanji felt a bit sorry for her for having such an idiot with her.

"That's no way to treat lady like her, Zoro-kun," Sanji said with a childish voice.

"Shut up, at least I accompanied her right?" Zoro reasoned but it was not enough for Sanji.

"Well that's a start but I really doubted that you would appear here the following day..."

But then Sanji nearly jumped into the air when he heard a voice behind his back. "What, I didn't know you were gay."

"OLD MAN DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!" Sanji shouted even without seeing Zeff. "AND WHO TOLD YOU I WAS GAY?! HE IS JUST THAT PLANT WHO MADE ME DRUNK WITH DRINKING COMPETITION!" he raged and Zeff gestured him to keep quiet around the customers.

"Just behave yourself, Eggplant," Zeff noted and excused himself without further warning.

"Don't mind him, he is just not...used to me talking with male customers also..." Sanji grumbled with slight blush on his face.

"What's with the 'Eggplant'?" Zoro inquired with a grin on his face.

"It's a nickname he has given to me," Sanji explained shortly. "We have...never had a normal father-son relationship if you know what I mean..."

"I could guess," Zoro admitted and took a look at the menu when he saw the same crazy old man rushing towards Sanji and raising his leg to kick the blond who apparently noticed the attack and avoided it only by few millimeter.

"AND WHO TOLD YOU TO ASK SOUL KING PERFORM HERE AGAIN?!" Zeff raged after seeing the commercial about Soul King's performance in the restaurant.

"I DID IT MYSELF!" Sanji hissed. "I have brains and he is a good reputation for the restaurant!"

"Whatever! Just ask for my opinion the next time you decide to use your non-existing brains!" Zeff yelled and headed back to the kitchen.

Perona raised a curious brow and stared at the blond. "Soul King is performing here? I didn't know! Do you have some connections with him?!" Perona inquired, seemingly a fan of the superstars.

"He is my friend, yes," Sanji answered. "He will perform here next Saturday at eight o'clock and I can book a table for you, my lady, if you are interested," Sanji offered and the woman nodded vigorously. "So, table for two?" he inquired, staring from Perona to Zoro.

"I am not coming," Zoro stated.

"Don't disappoint her, you should come too," Sanji advised. "Besides, I can offer free tickets for both of you if you come," Sanji offered and Perona's smile grew wider.

"Could you also ask if I could meet the big star?" Perona almost begged.

"I can always ask if he would meet one fan, yes," Sanji promised the only thing he could. "So I will expect both of you here on Saturday evening," Sanji stated.

"OI!" Zoro hissed. "I never promised to show up!" he argued but nobody paid any attention to what he was saying.

...

It was late evening when Zoro was finally free from his work. He was sweaty, tired, hungry and thirsty but luckily he remembered he had few bottles soda in his freezer.

After taking a shower, the man decided to order some pizza from a close-by pizza store which was open late hours.

"Yo! You want to order some pizza?!" he heard a cheerful voice in the other end of the line. It was soon followed with something sounding like a preach but Zoro couldn't hear what about.

"I would like to order one Hawaii pizza to Rayleigh's street 3 B 18," Zoro ordered and it sounded like the boy on the other line wrote down something.

"Your pizza will be there in..." there was a short pause. "...twenty minutes they said!" and the line fell silent.

It was not like Zoro had a habit of ordering pizza. Actually he had never ordered pizza before but he had bought some ready pizza on his way back home. While he worked on a field which needed proper health, he knew he had to eat properly to stay on proper shape and eating properly didn't include fast food, pizzas, sweets, chips and sadly, alcohols and sodas.

It was a bit before the promised twenty minutes passed when the doorbell rang and the pizza-deliver arrived.

"Yo!" a black-haired, young-looking man greeted casually, as if they had known each other for a long time. "Your delivery, it's 11,70 euros!"

Zoro took the delivery and offered the man twenty euros."Keep the change," he offered politely and the man's grin grew even bigger than possible.

"REALLY?!" he asked. At this point Zoro had already doubted the boys professionalism for a while but decided to leave it at that. "Then I can order a pizza with extra meat in it yet today!" the boy cheered and rushed off, not saying a word to the green-haired man who stood there, confusement written all over his face. But yet, weirdly, he couldn't bring himself to hate the weird and cheerful pizza delivery man.

...

**Author's note:**

Hope you enjoyed this chapter too and I hope you keep following and waiting for new chapters :3 I hope there is none who doesn't know who the pizza man was, right...? And I hope that Perona was not too OC but I though that it would fit her creepy personality that he liked Brook's music, right? :D And I wanted to bring other Strawhats into this story too so... :P

Beta: I want lots of Sanji's blood please

Oneechan94: Blood? What blood? O.o This is real world and therefore Sanji is not immortal :3

Beta: But still...

Oneechan94: Let's see let's see...I have something small planned, don't worry :P


	3. Challenge accepted

Chapter three! :D I don't know if this story develops a bit too fast but I try to slow down a bit, at least every now and then to savior the special moment and maybe hint something about their pasts. At least nothing had happened yet, right?

I have been so happy to receive such an amount of reviews, follows and favorites in such a short time O.o So thank you to you all, please keep waiting for new chapters patiently ... good girls/boys will be rewarded ;)

...

Week had went by and Sanji hadn't seen even the glimpse of the green-haired man. Well, it was not like he was missing the brutal man who didn't knew how to treat women but it still felt somehow weird.

It was late Friday evening and Sanji was working on the restaurant's paperwork. He was rubbing his temples with his thumbs and trying to focus on all the numbers and other stuff but it felt almost impossible.

His eyelids felt heavy so he decided to pour himself some coffee to stay awake for a bit later. He stared at the pile of work in front of him, sighed deeply and took the next form to fill in.

"EGGPLANT!" was a shout heard from downstairs, probably from the kitchen. "ARE YOU YET TO CLEAN THE TABLES?!"

"I WILL CLEAN THEM, JUST WAIT FOR A WHILE YOU SHITTY GEEZER!" he responded, not bothering to be polite and quiet at that hour and for someone who used the same tone towards him. Besides, there were no more customers around either so he didn't have to watch his mouth.

_It feels almost unfair how much work the shitty geezer orders me to do...When I think about it, I work eight hours a day at the restaurant, then I do two hours of paperwork everyday and I often clean the kitchen and the restaurant site...As if I am left with much free time to flirt with women or plan a new menu for the restaurant..._

Well, Sanji always thought that he was fine with the amount of work he was getting. At least he didn't get bored or had so much problem with how to spend his leisure time!

...

Nami stomped across the hallway towards her colleagues work room with angry expression on her face.

"ROBIN!" she almost shouted when she opened the door, making the older woman raise her glasses. "I can't take your students anymore, they drive me nuts!"

"Let's see..." Robin sighed calmly with a slight smile across her face. "Let me guess, Akira is acting like a spoiled child again, Ryuusuke can't keep his eyes on the board and Miroku is restless in some other ways?" Robin suggested while Nami sat down to the opposing chair.

"That's right!" Nami admitted. "Could you have a word with them?"

"I will se what I can do," Robin promised and the orange-haired woman relaxed slightly.

"Thanks," Nami said with a smile on her face. "You know, you can't expect me to focus on teaching them about geography when I feel one staring at my bottom, one giggling like a foolish school girl and one throwing pieces of paper on my back!"

"Well, students of this age are pretty troublesome but they can be reasoned with," Robin said calmly.

"Yeah...sometimes I even envy Usopp! Even though his students are younger and more restless, they are easier to deal with! And his students are usually more interested about the subjects they are dealing with!" Nami said voice full jealously which made the history teacher giggle.

"By the way, have you seen Usopp-san today?" Robin asked.

"I saw him in the morning so I expect he is at school today, why?" Nami informed.

"I just need his help with my new book's cover that's all," Robin said casually and removed her glasses. "If you see him, could you ask him to drop by?"

"Of course, Robin!" Nami vowed and excused the room.

...

Zoro stomped around the grocery store, looking for what to eat for the next few days. He was actually horrible with food AND directions, meaning that he could not find what he was looking for in the store AND he just picked up groceries almost randomly. Not a very good combinations, right?

It was an early morning and he had just enough time to buy something before he had to go to shower and head to work. It was Saturday, meaning that he would probably have a longer day than usual but he didn't really mind it as long as he still had his two days off work and his other work days were pretty short, thanks to most of their customer had work or school then.

"Oi, Zoro!" he heard a familiar voice call out. "What are you doing here?"

"Buying food," Zoro answered bluntly as if it was the clearest thing in the world.

"Of course you are, idiot!" Sanji hissed. "What else could you possibly be doing in a grocery store?!" he asked but wasn't really expecting an answer which he didn't receive either so he took a quick peek at what the green-haired man had bought. "Those don't look really healthy, you know," he noted casually.

"Well, for me, food is only filling your stomach so it doesn't really matter what kind of food I eat," Zoro tried to reason with the blond but the other man just shoke his head vigorously.

"You know, food is really important, especially in a job like yours where you have to build up your body!" Sanji explained and Zoro sighed.

"I know but I don't bother to pay attention to it," Zoro blurted.

There was a short silence before Sanji spoke up. "By the way, remember that Soul King performs today," he said while offering the free tickets to the man. "One for you, one for lovely Perona-chan."

"Oi joi, I never said I was coming!" Zoro hissed.

"Don't make Perona-chan sad, okay? If you do, you need to face my rage," Sanji threatened but Zoro only grinned at the challenge - he had seen the blond fighting, after all.

"Sounds good," Zoro teased with a grin on his face. "I was looking for a good opponent anyways. "

It took a while for Sanji to register what the green-haired man had said but when he did, he smirked slightly. "If that's your motivation, then here is the deal - you come to the concert, I will fight you okay?" he offered and Zoro smirked widely.

"Deal," Zoro said, not being able to refuse the chance to have a serious fight with someone else than his boss.

"Anyways, I can't let you eat that junk you have there so let me help you find something healthier, " Sanji insisted. "We don't want you to weaken up before our fight, after all," he teased with a smug smile on his face and Zoro couldn't refuse, who knew why.

"Tsk, as if a duck like you could beat me even in my weakened state," Zoro grumbled but he wasn't really annoyed - he found himself being surprisingly happy.

...

The time for Soul King's performance got closer and closer and surprisingly, the idiotic Marimo had dragged himself to the restaurant to go with Perona who seemed to be in high spirits.

"Ah, Perona-chan!" Sanji greeted the woman. "Is that idiot treating you well?" he inquired and glanced to the green-haired man who grumbled something under his breath which Sanji couldn't make clear of.

"Not really but it doesn't matter just now!" Perona said, her face glowing with fan-energy. "By the way, how about that special I asked for?" she asked and Sanji smiled at her. "REALLY?! I GET TO MEET SOUL KING?!"

"Lower your voice, woman!" Zoro hissed but was punched hard on the back.

"That's not a way to treat a woman, idiot!" an orange haired woman preached and Zoro stared at the woman but said nothing. "Eh, is that you, Sanji-kun?!" she suddenly gasped and hugged the blond. "It has been a long time! Do you remember me?!"

"Do you guys know each other?" Zoro interrupted but nobody seemed to mind.

"We were in the same class once," Nami informed. "And how do you know each other? Or is it that Sanji-kun has finally admitted that women are not his thing?" she asked with a teasing voice and to her surprise, the blond in her arms blushed deeply.

"It's not that, Nami-san! You know how much I appreciate female beauty!" Sanji noted and Nami nodded.

"Of course I know! You were chasing after women all the time back in high school!" she laughed and Sanji laughed awkwardly with her. "Anyways, let's go and take our seats before the best places are taken!" she said and started to pull Sanji's hand to the direction of the stage when the man had to stop her.

"Unfortunately I am working today," Sanji apologized. "You guys take that big table over there, it has been reserved but nobody bothered to arrive in time so you might as well take it."

"You work here? That's amazing! Couldn't have expected less of you, Sanji-kun!" Nami praised.

"Isn't it a VIP-table?" Perona wondered out aloud.

"VIP for my best quests, my dear," Sanji winked at the woman but then glared at the green-haired man. "Doesn't include you."

The group of three headed towards the table which was pointed to them and sat down. After a while, Sanji came and asked if they wanted to order something to drink or some small snacks to eat before the show would begin.

"Cola for me, Sanji-bro!" a familiar voice called out and soon Sanji was pulled to a powerful hug.

"Could you please stop that, Franky?!" Sanji requested but knew it had no effect on the older man. "Did you decide to come here too?"

"No way I could miss this suupeer concert!" Franky cheered. "Do you guys mind if I join you? This table has the best view on the stage," Franky asked, pointing his question to Zoro, Nami and Perona.

"Not at all!" Nami reassured and the pervert sat down.

After some small introductions, the group of four sat in a comfortable silence while waiting for the show to start. It was only a matter of seconds before the big star would step on the stage. Audience was in high spirits and simply waiting to see the familiar skeleton-masked guy with huge afro.

Finally the famous Soul King stepped on stage and greeted everyone. "Hello my dear audience and especially all the beautiful ladies~!" the atmosphere got better in a blink of an eye and soon Soul King was already singing his first song of the evening.

Luckily the line of orders had calmed down after the show started so even Sanji had time to sat down with his friends and enjoy the show. At least for a while.

"I was actually amazed you even bothered to drag your sorry ass here, Marimo-kun," Sanji mocked and kicked the idiot from under the table. "Thought that you had chickened out of the challenge," he added with a pleased smile on his face.

"Don't even dream, Curly," Zoro stated. "Not like I would give you the chance to escape the fight," he returned the tease and Sanji's eyebrows twisted slightly.

"Who would, idiot?!" Sanji shouted over the music. "Don't come crying to me when I totally wipe your ass!" he threatened and noticed that his rival was enjoying their conversation and the thought of the upcoming fight as much as he did.

"You're welcome to try," Zoro noted with a wide, evil grin spread all across his face.

The blond felt somehow loosing the verbal fight and he didn't like the feeling. He needed something to show the green-haired man that he was not feeling threatened with his comment or presence - he wanted them to feel somehow equal.

Sanji wasn't too sure what to say next so he decided to give his few, well-chosen words some extra power - he grabbed the green-haired man by the collar across the table and pulled him closer to his face. Everyone where focusing on the show so nobody saw the scene occurring there in the darkness of audience. They could feel each other's breaths on their faces but Sanji didn't feel bothered by it, not even the slightest. He was pleased to see the obvious confusement written all over the idiot's face, however.

"You too," he said finally and let go of the man who was now grinning victoriously just like the blond man who had just taken a step into Zoro's personal place - Now the green-haired man felt like he had really found himself a worthy opponent, someone who could rile him up perfectly.

...

**Author's note:**

Yay, some Soul King and some tension starting to build between them , right? Oh sweet love, sweet love, it's coming all too slow and torturing us... XP

You can expect the next chapter inside two weeks like before :3 I will give myself time to write fanfics according to my moods, otherwise I could publish chapter a day but I have to feel inspired to write these, otherwise they will turn out not so good :/ Hope you enjoyed! :3


	4. Compliments and wake-up calls

Fourth chapter has appeared! Bow before me, the great Oneechan! Maybe I should change my nick here to Oneesama? No not really, just kidding and what am I saying... Sorry it took so long to publish this chapter, I have been REALLY busy with more important matters but here it goes! :3

Zoro: Why can't you shut up for once, woman? We don't need your stupid speech, just get on with the story!

Oneechan94: Fufufu, confident aren't you, Zoro-kun?

Sanji: DON'T TREAT HER LIKE THAT, MARIMO!

Oneechan94: Don't worry, I know just what to do for him if he continues like this *evil giggles*

Sanji: Did you hear that?! She is going to punish you!

Zoro: Tsk, as if one woman could do much!

Oneechan94: Actually I can. At least now, when I am an author. Your behaviour could have a great effect to which one of you ends up being uke you know...and if another one of you have a pathetic sized dick ~

Zoro: You wouldn't dare...!

Oneechan94: Oh yeah I would but don't worry, I want to have Sanji as uke but that doesn't mean I can't have something planned for you ~

Sanji: So charming~!

Zoro: Let's cut the crap already and CONTINUE THE STORY ITSELF!

...

Soul King's performance at Baratie was success - kitchen staff was busy filling in orders and customers were pleased with the show even though it didn't have the usual special effects and stuff like the big shows of Soul King - the spirit mattered the most.

Sanji didn't have much time to stop by to spend time with his friends among the customers but he was happy indeed that the evening went so well. If it had gone bad, he would have had a hell of a preach from the shitty geezer and he didn't like it the least. He was also secretly pleased that the evening HE had planned had gone so smoothly but what mattered the most was that all the customers left the restaurants with a smile and stomachs full of great food.

Sanji just excused the toilet when he met his father on the hallway. His old man had his usual, facial expression which showed no emotions of whatsoever and he seemed tired after the evening. Well, not too tired but still slightly tired - the evening had been a challenge to even an experienced chef like him.

"So, Eggplant...the evening was a success, surprisingly," Zeff said with a mocking tone, avoiding to praise the blond.

"Well thank you for such a nice words, shitty geezer," Sanji answered with similar irony to his voice. "You could tell me at least once that I did a shitty great job here and not avoid the topic like always."

"Tsk, as if," Zeff grumbled. "There was so much to do better..." the older man sighed and a vein popped in Sanji's head.

"Then do it better if you can!" Sanji hissed, seriously angry and pissed off which caused his father to laugh out aloud.

"Whatever," Zeff shoke his shoulders. "But the cleaning is yours," he ordered and Sanji's jaw fell.

"You can't seriously mean I clean all fo this by myself and count the money and stuff?!" Sanji shouted, not believing his ears. Well, of course he was used to doing more work than average worker but it felt too much to ask from him after week full of overwork and usual extra work outside working hours.

"Of course, it was your party after all," Zeff noted and Sanji swallowed hard.

_You have to be fucking kidding me..._Sanji thought by himself and watched how his old man headed upstairs to clean himself up, probably take a warm shower and go to sleep.

Then he heard the customers toilet opening and turned his head around to see the green-haired man standing in the doorway with a confused look on his face.

"What the hell are you still doing here, Marimo?" Sanji asked almost nicely, too tired to focus on the tone of his voice. "Customers should have left already."

"I got lost," Zoro stated bluntly the moment Sanji turned his attention elsewhere. The blond man thought that the green-haired man was joking but when he realised he wasn't, he bursted out laughing. "IT'S NOT FUN!" Zoro shouted, clearly annoyed.

"IT IS!" Sanji argued, trying to stop his laughing-fit. He couldn't believe such an idiot would exist!

After a while which felt forever of humiliation for the green-haired man, the blond stopped laughing and stared directly at Zoro. The green-haired man didn't know what the look was about but he couldn't turn his gaze away. "Sorry, but I have to start cleaning up this mess..." Sanji sighed and pointed at the door. "Could you please just leave so that I can start my 'night-shift'," he said with a slightly joking tone but his face told something else to the other man.

"You need help?" Zoro asked and Sanji blinked.

"What? You think I can't handle this by myself?" Sanji hissed, feeling slightly annoyed.

"No, you would probably do this by yourself even if it would take all night long, the stubborn bastard you are, but I would say that this is too much work for one person and besides, when is the last time you took a proper break? You look exhausted," Zoro explained and Sanji understood that he had made a point.

"Okay okay, if you insist but believe me, if the shitty geezer finds out I let someone I have recently met and someone who is not staff help me...he might just kill me," Sanji teased and Zoro smirked at the comment.

"If he could," Zoro said which was almost a praise coming from him. "You are simply too stubborn to die," he said and received a kick to his ribs from the blond. It didn't hurt, at least not badly but the green-haired man sensed that his opponent was not being serious at the moment.

"Shut up, Moss-head and let's get this over with," Sanji cursed and lead the idiot with no sense of direction towards the dining hall which was the biggest mess - staff always made sure that at least kitchen was kept mostly clean since it was their sanctuary.

"So...how did you come to know Soul King?" Zoro inquired with a slightly worried tone in his voice and tried to start a conversation while they cleaned up the tables from empty glasses and stuff.

"Well I doubt that you are really interested but anyways..." the blond sighed but it was pretty obvious that he was going to continue soon even though he knew the idiot wasn't really interested. "He was just a regular customer here first, he appreciated my food and stuff and then all of the sudden when he saw or more like heard me and that shitty geezer having a fight how I can't find proper performers here, he revealed his biggest secret to me while offering his help."

"Just like that?" Zoro wondered out aloud.

"Yeah, I don't even know why he decided to trust me but anyways, he has been a great help for me," Sanji said with a small smirk on his face and he took a pile of plates towards the kitchen.

There was a short silence when both focused on the task at hand - carrying all the dishes to the kitchen and not breaking them while doing so.

"So, what do you do on your free time?" Zoro asked suddenly.

"What free time?" Sanji grumbled and Zoro laughed a bit, thinking of it as a joke but when he realised it wasn't one, he fell silent.

"Really?" Zoro inquired with a serious look on his face.

"Well, I really don't have that much free time," Sanji admitted. "After my work, I still have to do some accounting and stuff, clean and probably work some extra if one or more of our workers is sick," Sanji explained.

"Whoah, that doesn't sound so nice," Zoro noted. "Well, what do you do when you HAVE free time?" he specified his question.

"Mostly sleep and if I have enough energy, I go around and search for women," Sanji answered and Zoro made a weird sound.

"You? Searching for women? World might end..." Zoro teased and Sanji felt like punching the idiot.

"Of course! Can't you see my charms?!" Sanji argued.

"Well, not really," Zoro said with a grin on his face. "No wonder you have nobody with that creepy flirting of yours...it freaks everyone out," he noted with his grin growing even wider than earlier.

"Well how about you who has no manners at all, Marimo?!" Sanji hissed and stomped his feet against the ground.

"What was that, Ero-Cook?!" Zoro returned the favor, landing all the dishes on the table and staring at the blond with a challenging look in his eyes.

"WOULD YOU STOP ALL THE RACKET DOWN THERE, YOU IDIOTS?!" Zeff shouted from upstairs and a vein popped in Sanji's forehead.

"STOP SHOUTING YOURSELF, SHITTY GEEZER!" he shouted back and relaxed his body as a message that the fight which hadn't even begun properly was already over. "Let's get this over with, shall we, Moss-head?" Sanji suggested, turning his gaze towards the dining hall and Zoro nodded.

They worked in silence again, both focusing on finishing their work as soon as possible and go to sleep. It had been a long evening with lots to focus on for both of them but especially for Sanji. He felt like drifting off to sleep the moment he closed his eyes for a bit longer than a mere blink. He was trying to shake off the feeling the best he could but even the green-haired man was not idiot enough not to notice how the blond was struggling.

"Hey, why won't you sit down for a while?" he suggested. "You look like shit."

"Well thank you, you sure know how to pay a compliment!" Sanji hissed but didn't refuse the offer to sit down for few minutes.

The blond fell asleep against the table almost as soon as he had sat down while the green-haired man grinned at the sight and continued cleaning the best he could.

...

Sanji woke up slowly in the morning. He felt his stiff body protest every move he tried to do and it was unbelievable hard to merely open his eyes.

What he saw the first thing that morning made him jump back a bit and forget about how his body had felt like not moving an inch a second later. He saw green - actually green-hair and tanned face opposing his and he heard the loud snores escaping his mouth. The man looked like a deep sleeper and he looked pretty comfy even though he was half-sitting and half-laying on the table and

He looked around and saw that the dining hall had been completely cleaned. The blond stared at the shining tables and felt utterly exhausted but also happy at the sight.

"Hey, shitty Marimo, wake up," he started to shake the other man from the shoulders. When he didn't receive any reaction, he pushed the man down on the floor and the reaction was pleasant for the blond.

"WHY THE FUCK CAN'T YOU WAKE ME UP LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE, CURLY?!" Zoro raged, standing up in an instant.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU WHEN YOU DON'T WAKE UP LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE,MOSS-HEAD?!" Sanji shouted back, returning the insult.

"AND WHO WAS THE ONE WHO SAVED YOUR SORRY ASS YESTERDAY?!" Zoro noted and Sanji felt his rage-levels rising immediately.

"WHO ASKED YOU TO HELP?!" Sanji yelled. "I WOULD HAVE MANAGED PERFECTLY BY MYSELF!"

"AND YOU DID A FUCKING GREAT JOB, DIDN'T YOU?!" Zoro continued their "conversation" but then they both fell silent when they heard steps from upstairs.

"Oh shit, the geezer is awake!" Sanji cursed, lowering his voice and started to push the green-haired man towards the front door. "Get out of here now when you have the chance!"

"I am not scared of your old man!" Zoro almost whispered.

"Well maybe you should!" Sanji noted and opened the front door and pushed the man outside.

Zoro stood there with a confused look on his eyes for a while, not expecting so rough and sudden exit from the restaurant but was surprised to see that the blond stared at him for a while with a lazy smile before closing the door and whispering quietly. "Thanks for your help."

Zoro couldn't help but smirk at Sanji before the door closed.

...

**Author's note:**

So, how was it? Can't you just smell the love in the air? :3 I am trying to keep up with my writing schedule the best I can so don't worry - this story will become complete!


	5. Bad omens

Chapter 5! I am doing my best to write when I have the right mood for it but I don't always have time for it...and usually the best ideas come when you are just about to fall asleep and found a comfortable sleeping position! It's probably the worst possible situation to have motivation to write! D:

By the way, I have started to consider including Luffy x Nami pairing also, how does it sound? Not like it will take a lot of space in the story, we still want our dear lover boys ~

And yet again, please enjoy, leave review, favorite, follow, whatever you feel like doing! :3

...

"So...how did you and Sanji-kun meet?" Nami inquired the first thing when she arrived to self-defence classes on Monday.

"What?" Zoro asked as if he hadn't heard the question.

"I asked how you and Sanji met each other?" Nami repeated the question but somehow Zoro knew there was something more to it. "How long have you guys been dating? Nothing wrong with two men dating each other, right?"

"Whoah whoah, slow down woman! What is this all about?!" Zoro hissed and stared at the woman who was probably the only person of opposite gender who could meet his gaze like that.

"I mean, you guys are total opposites of each other, how do you get along?" Nami inquired. "Which one of you is the bottom? I must guess you are the top because you are more muscular."

"SHUT UP FOR A WHILE, WILL YOU?!" Zoro shouted, confused by all the sudden question and cleared his throat when his sudden outburst had earned few irritated gazes from his customers. "And of course I am nothing like him, we are totally different!"

"So, you do not deny it?" Nami said with a smirk on her face.

"Hell yeah I deny it!" Zoro raised his voice a bit. "How could you even think that we could be dating?! The whole idea is absurd!"

"But you seemed to get along so well..." Nami sighed.

"Well, if you count constant fights as 'getting along', then yeah!" Zoro tried to crack a joke but it didn't seem to humour the orange-haired woman.

"I don't mean that, it's just that...you seemed somehow more like yourself when you were close to him so I simply thought that you guys were something more than friends," Nami admitted with a disappointed look on her face. "Maybe you guys should try dating?!" Nami suggested, probably thinking that she just got some really great idea.

"I have only one thing to say: get lost and no way," Zoro said with a quiet, threatening whisper.

"You should remember who you owe money to, Zoro-chan," Nami teased with a confident smirk and Zoro swallowed hard. "So you should treat me better and also know that I am not fooled so easily."

Zoro swallowed his pride and admitted his lost. " Fine, Makino's restaurant at seven?" he suggested when he knew he could not avoid that conversation with Nami if he didn't want her to raise her interest rate again.

"Deal," Nami said, knowing that she had won this one.

...

"So kids, today we are going to draw about the great adventures of the great captain-Usopp!" art teacher spoke out and most of the kids let out a complaining whine.

"But teacher, we have drawn nothing else but drawings of the great captain Usopp!" Piiman argued.

"And doesn't that just tell how great captain Usopp is?!" Usopp noted and kids just knew they were not gonna win this one.

Kids started to draw while Usopp told them great stories which they could use as an inspiration for their drawings also. Many of them had their own visions, however, and while some of them drew some great drawings of the great captain Usopp, others drew something ridiculous on purpose when the topic didn't inspire them enough.

"Hey teacher, when are we going to go for that trip you promised?" one of his pupils asked quietly.

"Oh you mean about that movie trip?" Usopp specified. "I have already bought tickets for us, we will go there after two weeks. And good think you brought that up because I must have your parents permissions before the trip so I have some papers for you guys to take with you today and you better take good care of them if you want to tag along!" Usopp explained with a wink and shared the information pages.

Atmosphere in the class rose immediately after news about their movie trip and everyone, or about everyone, started to draw with more enthusiasm.

The class went quickly and soon the school bell rang as a sign that the lesson was over.

"Okay kids, remember to behave, hand over your works and please do not make airplanes of those papers I gave you this time around, okay?" Usopp shouted over the sounds of kids packing their belongings and rushing to break.

"Oh, that's actually a good idea, sensei!" one of the kids joked but when Usopp took in seriously and stared at his pupil seriously, the boy swallowed hard. Even though all the kids knew Usopp was probably the nicest of all the teachers, they still knew he was not somebody to mess with since he took his job very seriously.

The classroom fell silent for a while but then a silent knock was heard on the door. "Come in," Usopp advised and Robin peeked in.

"Good morning, Usopp," she greeted politely. "Have you managed to plan the cover for my new book yet?" she inquired and Usopp nodded slowly and deeply.

"Of course! Who do you think you are talking to?!" Usopp barked and Robin just chuckled at the man with paranormally long nose. "I have few sketches here," Usopp pointed out and took the drawings out of his bag.

They talked about the cover for a while before Robin had to excuse herself. But before she left, she remembered that she had to pass a message too. "By the way, Iceburg-san is going to hold a meeting with school personals at five o clock on Friday," she noted and left the room as soon as she had made sure her colleague had heard her.

"Yeah, if he doesn't cancel it like usual," Usopp grumbled by himself in the empty and oddly quiet classroom.

...

"So...would you mind explaining me what's going on between you guys?" Nami asked, taking a sip of her mandarin-milkshake which Zoro had been forced to pay.

"I said nothing is going on," Zoro hissed and stared out of the window. It was raining outside.

"Don't play dumb with me, Zoro," Nami requested almost nicely. "I know something must be going on and you know you can trust me, right?"

"It's not like that, Sea Witch!" Zoro stated but fell silent when he saw the look on the woman's eyes.

"Then can I go and ask Sanji-kun about it?" Nami teased. "You know how weak he is against women ~ " she noted and winked at Zoro.

"You can't bother him with your stupid questions, okay?" Zoro said with an almost angry tone. "He has enough shit to handle already, he doesn't need you and your questions right now," he tried to reason with the woman but knew it was pretty much useless against her kind.

"Then you can explain it to me, right?" Nami noted. "If you don't want me to bother him, that's it," Nami half-threatened but knew it would work on the swordsman.

"What is there to tell you?! There is nothing going on between us, he is just a friend and I bought your shitty milkshake, isn't that enough for you?!" Zoro raised his voice a bit and Nami sighed.

"Fine, I let it slide..." she admitted her defeat but Zoro knew there was something more to it. "...but if you guys start dating, share a kiss, have sex, whatever, I am the first one to know," she added with a wide smirk and this time around it was the green-haired man's turn to sigh, and very deeply on booth.

"Hey, Zoro!" a sudden but very welcome interruption arrived in a form of a black-haired man who smiled widely. "What are you doing here?" he inquired with a foolish expression on his face.

"You are that pizza delivery boy!" Zoro yelled and pointed at the man when he recognised him. "How do you know me?" he inquired because he didn't remember making friends with the cheerful young man.

"Who would forget the name of the only person who has given you enough tip to buy a big pizza with extra meat in it?!" Luffy reasoned but nobody understood his logic. "Are you eating out with your girlfriend?" He suggested and a vein popped in Zoro's head.

"This woman IS NOT my girlfriend, got it?" Zoro snapped and Luffy felt like it was for his best to nod as quickly as possible.

"Me? No way I would he his girlfriend! He is way too brutal! I am just someone he owns a lot of money to," Nami joined the conversation with a glimpse of gold in her brown eyes.

"That's just like Zoro!" Luffy laughed as if he knew the green-haired man well enough to say something like that.

After a short silence, Nami felt that the boy with them would be easy enough to fool and decided to offer him a deal. "Hey, would you like to lend some money from me? That way you could buy your pizza's with extra meat in it everyday!" she suggested with an evil grin on her face but the unsuspecting boy didn't notice it.

"Oi Luffy, it's a trap, don't take that deal!" Zoro advised but somehow he just knew the boy was going to take the offer.

"REALLY?!" he shouted. "Of course it's a deal! Who would skip a chance like that?! Are you an idiot, Zoro?!" Luffy explained and Zoro couldn't help but feel sorry for the younger man who had apparently no idea what he had gotten himself into. He just hoped that the orange-haired woman would not be so cruel with the childish boy.

...

Sanji overslept on Tuesday and he barely seemed to stay awake during his working hours. Well, few smokes and a big cup of coffee helped a bit but a bit more sleep would have helped a lot more.

Of course his old man complained to him many times during the day, saying that he had just a hangover _from drinking nothing _and he was just lazy. But surprisingly, Sanji didn't seem to have the same energy to argue with him and he didn't even care to defend himself from all the insults and even physical attacks.

But what didn't occur often was that he also managed to make mistakes while cooking and serving the dishes. They were only small mistakes for average people, of course, but he was head-chef! He could not allow himself such mistakes like that when he had a great responsibility to take care of.

"Hey, Eggplant - - " Zeff called out for the blond but Sanji didn't hear him the first time. "EGGPLANT!" this time he shouted to make sure he was heard. The restaurant was already closed and now it was just the two of them.

"What is it?!" Sanji hissed. "Do you want to interrupt me? I am trying to check our accounting!"

"No, I just came to tell you that you have done a shitty job today and in my opinion you don't even deserve your wage!" Zeff raged at first but then his expression softened. "But you look like shit so it's no wonder you did shitty job this time around. Go and get some sleep, will you? I will finish up for you," Zeff suggested and Sanji stared at his father.

"Well, I surely didn't expect that..." Sanji grumbled, still staring at the papers in front of him. "You sure? Because I am sure as hell that you will complain about me being too lazy later on," he managed a small grin but seeing the serious look on Zeff's face, he sighed deeply and stood up. "It's all yours, Shitty Geezer."

He didn't hesitate to climb directly upstairs to his own apartment and fall on the sofa with a deep sigh. He felt completely devastated but at the same time, he didn't seem to find the energy to fall asleep yet.

He felt like spending the last bit of energy he had by dragging a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it up. Few calming breaths later he felt much more relaxed. Almost too much. The cheap sofa was comfortable all the sudden and he felt his eyelids starting to close. Well, he didn't really mind if he slept in his own bed or not.

The second his eyes closed and he fell asleep, his still unfinished cigarette fell on the floor on his clothes.

...

**Author's note:**

I thought it would be fun to have Nami in the story as some sort of "best-friend" of Zoro's even thought they don't get along too well and he owes her money...I think it fits her personality to interrogate poor Zoro like that, right? :3

And yeah, I felt like I have created Zeff such a cruel personality who forces overtime onhis own son so I decided to add a small father-to-son conversation here and bring out his soft side too :3 What did you think, does it fit his personality? :D And you can probably guess what's going to happen in the next chapter since smoking indoors is never good... :P


	6. Fire and hands of a chef

Chapter six! :D I am really excited about the whole fire-scenario and I hope you are pleased with how it will turn out too :3 Anyways, just read and enjoy, leave review, follow, favorite, recommend to your friends or grandma, anything you like :)

...

Zoro felt pretty lazy that evening. He had done a long day at work and the day had been busier than usual but that wasn't enough to stop the great swordsman. Well, even though it was nothing unusual for him to go straight to bed after his working hours, he still managed to take a small run at the harbour almost everyday. Training was an important part of his life and he enjoyed it even though it took time from sleeping.

He decided to drag himself for a run that evening too even though he felt like he could crash the bed any moment. It was pretty important to have self-discipline when training and that was just what he had when he forced himself for a small run of 10 kilometers even though he was tired. Anyone else could have given up but not Zoro.

He changed his clothes quickly and stepped outside, heading towards the harbour. It was a miracle he didn't get lost in the way - it was pretty often when his intended "small run" came longer when he found himself wandering around the town and trying to find back to his apartment. It was not like he was going to admit to anyone that he got lost in a city he had lived since he was a baby.

The chilly wind from the sea felt nice but made him feel colder because of the sweat which was covering his skin. The green-haired man felt his muscles moving under his clothes and he pretty much enjoyed the feeling.

His jogging was interrupted when his nose picked up a nasty smell. It was something rather familiar and something to be feared of but he couldn't place it just then. The smell was close to that of cigarettes but not exactly the same thing. Then it hit him.

There was fire somewhere close. It was the smell of burning wood, burning furniture and everything possible mixed up together. It was unwelcome smell and he had a bad feeling he knew where the fire was because the wind was blowing from the other end of the harbour and he knew just who was working and living in the restaurant around there.

He picked up speed to check if he was right but somehow he sensed that his guess was right and the only thing he needed was the sight of smoke coming out of the seams of the window from upstairs of the restaurant to call fire department and rush closer to the scene.

...

Sanji woke up with a startle, feeling a rather painful sting in his right hand. He felt the heat around of him and he felt his lungs feeling somehow heavy and he knew what was going on even before he opened his eyes.

"Shit!" he cursed out aloud and jumped off the sofa only to take a deep breath of dark smoke which made him cough hard.

_Why didn't the fire alarm work...? Oh yeah, I forgot to chance the battery last weekend..._ he reminded himself of his own mistakes but knew he should hurry up and get out of there before his escape routes would be cut off.

Fire had already covered the door so there was no way he could get out through that. It was not like he was scared of fire, he was a chef after all, but he knew those kind of flames would burn his beloved hands badly and he didn't want to risk doing any extra damage to them - if a chef would hurt his hands, it would be a surprise retirement.

Sanji thought of all the options. He could either wait for the fire department to arrive soon and hope that somebody had called them also but waiting was not one of his good points. He sucked at waiting.

Over the noises of the burning room, he heard some distant shouting from below but couldn't make clear of their voices. Flames crackled and he could feel the temperature rising every second. It was as if he was working on a stove but this fire was not under his control and it wasn't meant for cooking. The situation was an ultimate nightmare for a chef like him.

He considered backing off to the bathroom but then he would have no escape routes and in the worst-case scenario the fire department would never arrive. He could stand there and burn to ashes inside few minutes but he pretty much didn't like that option. The only option left was to jump through the window but if he did that, the fire would get some oxygen and the flames would get stronger - he didn't want to burn down the restaurant either.

Even though he tried to stop himself from doing so, he rushed towards the window, coughing the bad air out of his lungs on his way. Even though his mind told him to protect the restaurant at all costs, his self-defence instinct forced him to throw himself towards the window with his legs first and brace himself for the impact when the glass shattered.

His legs hit the surface of the water first and soon after his whole body followed after. He felt the cold water around him which was nice after that burning room he had been in.

Then he felt all the damage the fire had done to his body - his lungs were burning with every breath of fresh air he took, his hands were smarting and he felt like he was running out of air and energy.

...

Zoro made a forced entry to the restaurant and the second the door was down, he could hear the owner of the restaurant approaching him with his pet-leg and shouting curses at him.

"WHO THE HELL DARES TO BREAK MY RESTAURANT?!" Zeff shouted loudly when he opened the great doors of the kitchen and stared at the intruder with a gaze which could kill.

"YOUR RESTAURANT IS BURNING, IDIOT!" Zoro noted aggressively and he could see the shock on the older man's face. "I have already called fire department, we have to get out before upstairs will crash down!"

"MY RESTAURANT IS ON FIRE?!" Zeff yelled and then his expression darkened. "EGGPLANT IS UPSTAIRS!" he realised but when Zoro tried to head to where he expected the stairs to be, the older man stopped him.

"WHY DID YOU STOP ME?! LET ME GO!" Zoro shouted and tried to struggle free. "WE CAN'T LEAVE HIM THERE!"

"HE CAN TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF!" Zeff shouted and pulled the green-haired man out of the restaurant.

Finally, when Zoro stopped struggling after a minute or two, Zeff let go of the man. "How do you think he will escape that burning hell?!" Zoro inquired and Zeff only grumbled something under his breath even though it was clear he would have liked to go and save his foolish son himself.

"Well, my suggestion is that he will jump out of the window but the idiot he is, he might consider it because he won't want to burn down the restaurant," Zeff guessed and Zoro raised a brow. "You should know how fire needs oxygen to burn, right?" the older man managed to crack a small joke despite the situation.

The minutes of waiting were painful but finally they could hear the sirens of the fire truck but at the same time they saw a glimpse of movement from where the most of the smoke was.

A figure with blond hair surfaced soon after but it didn't take long for Zoro and Zeff to notice there was something definitely wrong with the man.

"That idiot, can't he even save his own sorry ass?!" Zeff mumbled and was about to jump to the sea for a small swim but now it was Zoro's turn to interrupt.

"Let me go, you can handle the fire department," Zoro suggested and without further hesitation, he jumped to the sea and started to swim towards the figure which had just disappeared below the surface.

It was soon after he managed to grab a firm hold of the slender man and he started to swim back to the shore. He made sure to keep his head above the surface to avoid any more water entering his respiratory system and he could feel the man on his back shuddering slightly even though he was unconscious and barely breathing.

A firefighter helped him to lift the unconscious man from his back and landed him gently on the hard asphalt. He checked his pulse and listened to his breathing before starting to perform artificial respiration by pressing his ribcage.

"What's wrong?" Zeff inquired after arriving on the scene.

"His lungs are full of water and probably suffered a lot of damage because of the smoke," the firefighter answered calmly while continuing to give first-aid.

After what felt like eternity, the blond hurled up some water and the firefighter turned him to his side. "Hey, can I have an oxygen mask over here?" he requested from one of his colleagues who nodded softly before rushing towards the fire truck.

Sanji was still not fully conscious but at least he could breathe. He still felt like his lungs were on fire and wished for the pain in his hand to go away but of course mere praying would not help him.

"..ands..." he managed a small request but the fire man couldn't hear him.

"Could you repeat that, please?" he requested.

"...hands..." the blond managed to repeat and it was only then that the firefighter paid attention to the state of the blond's right hand. His hands had been full with trying to bring the blond back alive but now he could see the burns in his hands.

"Oh shit," the firefighter cursed. "Bring me a wet towel, this guy has third degree burn in his hand!" he ordered and another one of his colleagues rushed to fullfill his order while the other brought the oxygen mask.

The firefighter helped Sanji to sit up and pressed the oxygen mask on his face. "Okay listen to me," he asked and seeing the blond nod slightly, he continued. "Just focus on your breathing, we are going to take you to hospital to have you checked. There is nothing to worry about, just keep on breathing," he explained calmly even though he was pretty sure that hand was not going to heal so fast.

"Hey, are you his friend?" one of the firefighters inquired from Zoro. "Could you keep talking to him? We need his help on the scene of action," he noted, pointing at the firefighter who was helping Sanji and covering his right hand with a wet towel.

"Well, not exactly but sure," Zoro said, rubbing his neck while thinking of what to say even though it would probably have been better for the restaurant's owner to take care of his son.

Zoro knelt gently in front of Sanji and stared at the blond. "Don't worry Curly, you are going to be fine and I can already hear the ambulance coming," he said and he was not lying to keep the blond calm. Sanji just stared at him from behind the oxygen mask, not bothering to speak out aloud when he felt like his lungs could give up any moment.

Luckily Zoro didn't have to come up with something to talk for a long time when the ambulance arrived and paramedics took over. He was quickly taken to the ambulance and being supported on his way inside. He was still wearing the oxygen mask and Zoro had to admit it was good they had covered his hand before the blond had seen the state of it.

"Would someone like to come with him?" one of the paramedics asked, pointing his question at Zoro and Zeff.

"You go, I have some business to take care of with the fire department," Zeff suggested, surprising the green-haired man but Zoro didn't feel like refusing the offer so he took his seat in the back of the ambulance.

"Well well, trying to cook with some bigger flames are we?" he joked slightly and was surprised to see a small grin break onto the blond's face.

"Trying to be a smartass like always, Marimo?" Sanji answered with a raspy voice, removing the oxygen mask only for a while to say what he had to say.

"Don't talk or I will throw few good punches in you," Zoro half-threatened, knowing full-well he could not possibly even consider fulfilling his threat.

"You both stop talking, you don't annoy my patient and you don't exhaust yourself," the paramedic ordered and the duo fell silent.

...

Zoro sat uncomfortably in his chair in front of Sanji's room where some doctor was checking on him and treating his wounds. The blond was already fully concious of what was going on around him but mouth was dry, his lungs hurt like hell and his right hand itched badly but he was not allowed to scratch it.

The green-haired man could hear Sanji's father approaching even though he had never seen him coming. The unusual sound of pet-leg hitting the floor was something he would never forget and it always sent cold shivers to his back. The older man looked exhausted and no wonder because it was a high time for elders to be asleep.

"How is it going? Have they told you anything?" Zeff inquired from Zoro who had a confused look on his face.

"They are checking him right now but apparently he has a serious burn in his right hand," Zoro stated and saw the gloomy expression Zeff suddenly had on his face. "You should be lucky that he is alive," Zoro noted but Zeff shoke his head.

"You don't understand the meaning of hands for a chef, do you?" Zeff asked and when Zoro shoke his head, he sighed deeply. "For chefs, our hands are our life - we can't work without them. And for Sanji, being a chef is his life," Zeff explained shortly. "It's not just some simple wound."

"But his hands will heal so what's so bad about it?" Zoro wondered out aloud and Zeff grumbled cursing under his breath.

"What is your passion?" Zeff asked suddenly, interrupting Zoro abruptly.

"I like kendo, and you didn't answer my question," he answered as shortly as possible and argued at the same time.

"Then you should understand how bad thing it would be not to be able to use your hands for a while, right?" Zeff reasoned. "You could only stare at others doing your favorite thing but would be unable to do it yourself," he added and the duo fell silent for a while.

The silence didn't last for long, however, when Zoro came up with something to talk about. "How about the restaurant?" he asked curiously.

"Only Sanji's apartment suffered some damage but it's nothing that pervert couldn't fix," Zeff grumbled and Zoro realised immediately who the "pervert" was.

Their conversation was interrupted when a doctor with black hair and small goatee stepped on the hallway and cleared his throat. "You must be here for Mr. Blackleg, right?" he inquired and reached out his hand for both of them to greet them. "I'm Trafalgar Law and the doctor taking care of Sanji-ya," he introduced himself.

"How is he?" Zeff asked with weirdly polite tone.

"Well, his lungs are going to need some time to heal and he has some burnings and cuts almost in every part of his body but otherwise he is fine," Law explained the situation but Zeff wanted to make sure of something.

"And his hand?" Zeff inquired and Law smirked slightly.

"It's going to make a full recovery but it will need lots of time to heal back to normal," Trafalgar stated and Zeff sighed in relief. "You can go and meet him now, he has to stay here overnight but somebody can fetch him tomorrow," Trafalgar said and excused himself.

Zoro and Zeff stepped quietly into Sanji's room and stared at the blond who was sitting and holding his right hand.

"How are you?" Zoro asked the most cheesy question there was to that situation but Sanji paid no attention to it.

"Fine," Sanji answered and cleared his throat which was dry as desert. "Just don't like the idea of having to stay here overnight," he sighed and stared at Zeff. "How's the restaurant?" Sanji inquired and Zeff grunted at the question.

"It's fine, Eggplant, don't worry about it," he said. "The fire didn't spread any further than your room so the restaurant is safe," he added and Sanji relaxed his body.

"Okay so now I have to look for some place to stay until Franky fixes my room right?" Sanji realised. "Well, I could always ask for one of my lovely friends for a place to stay for few weeks ~ !" he said, swooning slightly.

"And they all know what a hopeless pervert you are so yeah, I can see why they would let you live under the same roof with them," Zeff mocked and Zoro cleared his throat.

"You could actually come and live with me, I just found out my apartment has an extra room," Zoro suggested and Sanji hesitated for a while but when he thought of his options, he decided to agree.

...

**Author's note:**

Yay! I thought that it would be fun to make them live under the same roof "accidentally" because then they could also spend more time together and love could blossom between them ~ What did you think of the chapter? ;)

This chapter was a bit longer than the earlier chapters but I don't think you mind, do you? :) And yeah, I just thought it would be fun that Zoro has noticed only after few years of living under the same roof that he has an extra room he hasn't seen before...it must be magic and rooms moving, right? ;)


	7. Barbarians

Chapter seven already! Wow, suuupeeer! :3 The fire is over and done with but now Sanji has to move in with the green-haired man...you can just sense that something is behind the door, right? ;) But here we go, chapter seven, begin!

...

"Wow, I thought that your apartment would be some dirty worm hole but..." Sanji noted quietly.

"You want me to hit you?" Zoro threatened and Sanji smirked confidently.

"Yeah, you could try," he mocked and looked around the apartment. "How long have you lived here? Oh sorry must be stupid to even ask, you must have moved in just few days ago if you found out about the extra room, right?" Sanji inquired.

"..." Zoro grumbled something which the blond couldn't make clear of or he though he heard wrong.

"What? Couldn't hear you Marimo," Sanji pointed out.

"...for four years..." Zoro stated quietly and Sanji blinked.

"You have lived here for four years and only now found out you have extra room in your apartment!?" Sanji said, bursting out laughing.

"It's not funny!" Zoro noted.

"Yeah it is! It's hilarious!" Sanji admitted and his laughing fit went on for few more minutes before Zoro interrupted him.

"You should be more polite, it was me who offered you a place to stay after all. Otherwise you would be sleeping rough on streets!" Zoro commented and Sanji stopped laughing the second the words caught his ears.

"Okay okay, you are right...and thanks, I guess?" the blond agreed and straightened his back. "So...where is that extra room of yours?" he asked seriously, at least partly seriously.

"It's that way...I think..." Zoro gestured and Sanji held back his laughter not to offend the green-haired man any further.

...

*_Earlier in the morning*_

_"So I will let Mr Blackleg go but he has to take at least week of sick leave and avoid using his right hand for month so that all the injuries will heal properly understood?" Doctor Law adviced and Sanji gulped but nodded anyways. "Good. And remember to change the bandages every day and keep them on at least two weeks, get your injuries checked in the hospital after a week."_

_Zeff threw Sanji a bag after the conversation. "What's in here?" Sanji wondered out aloud._

_"Some clothes and stuff which I found, you might need them," Zeff answered calmly. "I will give you one week of sick leave and after that you will be assigned to train new workers for month okay?" _

_"New workers?" Sanji inquired. "But just last month you said we didn't need..."_

_"Yeah but the situation has changed," Zeff admitted." I just couldn't see how much work I gave you and that's what caused the fire. I won't blame you. We can easily afford few more workers and training them should be pretty easy: just giving them advices and showing them how we do things at Baratie."_

_"Ah, okay...thanks..." Sanji said and rubbed his neck awkwardly. _

_"Don't worry about it, just take it easy for a month and get your ass back to work next week," Zeff grumbled and Sanji smiled slightly. "Where is that idiot who promised you a roof on top of your head?" _

_"He is not an idiot, he is idiotic Marimo," Sanji noted with a grin. "Well, he said he would pick me up from the hallway so I will head there now," he explained and took his bag._

_"Whatever, just tell him what the doctor told us so that he can look after your sorry ass while you life there," Zeff sighed and Sanji furrowed his brows._

_"Well you make sure you won't let the restaurant become bankcrupty while I am out, will you?" Sanji teased and started to rush towards the hallway where the idiot was supposed to be waiting him._

...

"You have something to drink? My mouth feels dry," Sanji asked and Zoro pointed towards the fridge and surprisingly to the right direction. "Thanks," Sanji said quietly, somehow unsure why he was being so polite with the green-haired man even though he annoyed the blond way too much.

Sanji sat on the sofa next to the self-defense teacher with a cold beer in his hand. "You sure it's okay for you to drink that?" Zoro inquired and Sanji raised a brow.

"Well nobody forbade me from drinking alcohol so I guess it's fine...even though I am used to some good quality wines, not some cheap bear," Sanji grumbled and Zoro changed the channel to some sport-channel.

"Sorry if my tastes doesn't please your delicate mouth," Zoro hissed, clearly annoyed that the blond complained even though he was a quest.

"It will do," Sanji said shortly, pointing at the beer and taking a sip. "It's not the worst I have tasted," he pointed out with a slight smirk. "Besides, I am not some expert and I do not only drink some high quality alcohol because they cost so much and I rather spend my money on my looks," he added and Zoro almost choked to his own beer.

"Your looks? What looks?" Zoro teased and Sanji's left leg met the green-haired man's jaw.

"My looks, my great looks Marimo!" Sanji hissed and targeted the other man's jaw again, this time with his other foot but the self-defense teacher had enough time to grab his leg before it mets its target.

"It pretty much looks like you are begging to have your ass kicked," Zoro smirked confidently.

"Same goes to you," Sanji grumbled back and fell on his back on the sofa to aim his next kick - his other leg was trapped, after all.

Sanji kicked again but Zoro grabbed his other leg too. The situation seemed like it would be tie since both of them had their "weapons" trapped while Sanji's legs were in a firm hold of Zoro's hands but neither of them felt like giving up just because they were both trapped.

The blond was the first one to move and he took advance of his flexibility by folding his body and legs to such a position that it was impossible for the green-haired man to keep his hold. Zoro reacted quickly, however, and the fight went on with no winner in sight.

In the middle of the fight Zoro noticed that Sanji's right hand had started to bleed. "Hey idiot, your hand is bleeding!" he pointed out but the blond didn't seem to hear him. "HEY, STOP IT!" he shouted but the blond was still focusing on fight at the hand, hell-bent on not losing this fight.

Zoro decided to end the fight since the blond seemed slightly exhausted and out of breath and on top of that his hand was bleeding so he took his chance and pushed the blond on the floor on his back and kept the blond down. "Listen, you idiot! Your hand is bleeding and you are clearly exhausted, cut it out!" Zoro advised and Sanji's face paled.

"Like I would lose a battle against a plant, you idiot!" Sanji threatened and tried to struggle free but it was useless. "Let me go!"

"Don't try to distract yourself!" Zoro marked. "You were just released from hospital, I don't want to fight against injured man okay?!" Zoro tried to reason with the man and luckily it seemed to work when the blond stopped struggling.

The blond stared at his captor with a challenging look. "Okay okay, I got it. I am not stupid enough to hurt my hands any further. So it's a tie?" Sanji suggested and Zoro shoke his head.

"No way, you lost even though you started the war," he grinned and Sanji felt like arguing again.

"But you don't want to fight an injured man which is the same as giving up!" Sanji stated. "I can stil keep going if you want to win me so bad!" he said and tried to get free again but not being entire serious about continuing the battle.

"Okay okay! It's a tie!" Zoro agreed and they stared at each other for a while before Zoro cleared his throat awkwardly and got off the blond. "Let's clean your wound and change the bandages okay?"

"Fine," Sanji hissed, not bothering to argue with the man and besides, his hand was throbbing lik hell.

The blond sat down back on the sofa and removed his shirt while the green-haired man searched for bandages and disinfectant. Even though Sanji was stubborn as hell, he realised all too well that he could not possibly treat his injured hand with only one hand so he gave up the fight on the spot.

Zoro sat down next to the blond and lifted his injured arm on his lap carefully not to hurt the blond. "Wow, would have thought you were barbarian," Sanji teased and Zoro stared at him with a questioning look. "Well, I just thought that you would be more rough with your actions but you are actually pretty soft," he chuckled.

"I am not one to treat others badly," Zoro noted. "You are hurt and in need of medical attention, what's more to it?" he explained and Sanji had to admit the idiot was right for once.

Zoro worked in silence and Sanji couldn't take it. "I guess I owe you thanks again," Sanji said quietly and Zoro smiled slightly.

"You are welcome," Zoro answered and they fell into a comfortable silence while the green-haired man treated the blond's wounds.

Sanji clearly gritted his teeth as hard as he could to avoid any voices escaping his mouth when Zoro added some disinfectant on his wound. He did his best to keep his arm as relaxed as possible to avoid extra pain but it felt pretty impossible to do so when the wound was hurting like hell.

"Sorry if it hurts," Zoro apologized even though he didn't have any reason to do so.

"Not your fault," Sanji managed to grumble between his teeth.

It took few minutes to clean the wound and bandage it properly again and Zoro stared at the blond with curious expression during the operation. He didn't know how to say it but he felt somehow honoured that the blond trusted him enough to let him take care of his injuries and he was also surprised by the blond's pain tolerance - he was hiding the pain well but not well enough for Zoro not to notice it.

"Okay, it's done," Zoro stated finally and Sanji took a deep breath and sighed deeply as if he hadn't breathe during the whole operation. He relaxed against the sofa and closed his eyes to focus on his breathing and not think about the pain in his hand.

Zoro examined the blond carefully and a weird idea cross his mind. It was an idea which kinds had never crossed his mind before and it felt utterly tempting for him. He was not a man of romance god damn it, but the temptation was still there and it consumed his mind.

He had an urge to kiss the blond.

...

Author's note:

Yay, the tension is growing and growing but I promise they will share a kiss pretty soon ( probably in the next chapter? :D ) After that their relationship could grow pretty fast to bumtsi bum-stuff in the bedroom! :3


	8. Temptations and jealousy

Sorry it took so long to update again and I am sorry to tell you this but I can't update so often anymore because I will have a really big project starting soon but I can assure you will have at least one chapter a month! :3 This is too cute story to be left without a proper ending, right? :3

...

Zoro stared at the blond on his couch awkwardly for a while before he broke his gaze away not to raise any weird assumptions but it was not left unnoticed by the other man.

"Something on my face?" he asked innocently, unaware of what the green-haired man had been thinking and even considering doing just few seconds ago.

"Nothing," Zoro grumbled and stood up. "I will head for bed, the room should be ready for you so just go to sleep when you feel like it," he advised and Sanji nodded.

"Does the TV bother you? I could turn it off," Sanji inquired but Zoro soon shoke his head.

"No, unless you plan on watching some shitty porn," Zoro said with a quick smirk appearing on his face and Sanji's face flamed.

"Who would watch some stupid porn here off all the places?!" Sanji raged and turned his attention back on the TV and switched channels before he found something for him. "See, they even have a cooking channel for me!" he noted and Zoro ruffled his green hair.

"Whatever, I am going to sleep," Zoro stated and soon he had disappeared behind his bedroom door.

While Zoro struggled to sleep while thinking of his former thoughts, Sanji couldn't focus on watching the cooking show either. The blond was trying to figure out what was going on in that green head of the certain idiot but didn't understand the look Zoro had given him earlier - the look was slightly confused and a bit shocked, as if the idiot had made some terrible realisation and it bothered Sanji way too much.

The blond was coming to a similar realisation himself but he was just too stubborn to admit he felt something towards the green-haired man. He was known to be all-ladies-man for way too long and he couldn't even considering breaking the habit just because of some strange feeling he had - in his point of few, the reason his thoughts were pretty messy could just be because of some shitty flue and nothing more.

But the love-cook, who was used to flirting and looking for love of his life, didn't know he had just stepped into the lovestory of his life. That's it about the blond being the expert on the field of love.

...

"Morning," Zoro greeted the blond first thing in the morning.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine," Sanji teased and Zoro grumbled something before Sanji pointed at a plate on the kitchen counter. "That's for you," he pointed out and Zoro raised a brow.

"I though you were supposed not to cook, Curly," he noted and Sanji stared at the other man as if he didn't believe the words he was hearing.

"Excuse me? Does this look like cooking to you?!" Sanji asked when he took the plate and showed off what there was on the plate. "This is not cooking! I just took some ingredients and dumped them on your shitty plate and you only have to warm it up in the microwave!" he argued. "Cooking is when you use oven and do something much more complicated, idiot!"

"Whatever but is this really for me?" Zoro inquired and Sanji stared at him again.

"Do you want me to drop it out of the window then?" the blond suggested.

"No, I will eat it, thanks," Zoro said quietly and put the plate on the microwave. "This is something I could get used to it."

"Really?" Sanji wondered out aloud. "Somebody with utterly bad personality making meals for you?" he added with a grin.

"Maybe," Zoro smirked back at the blond who gazed at the green-haired man quickly before turning his head.

"Whatever," Sanji sighed and stared the wall for a while before deciding to make something clear. "Besides, I would never throw away food even if the food was for neanderthal like you and I won't accept any waisted food while I am under your roof, got it?"

"Clear as water in a puddle of mud," Zoro grinned and Sanji knew he hated the idiot more than before but was unaware his hate was also something else.

They ate breakfast in silence before Sanji knew he was missing something. "Can I smoke at your balcony?"

"Do as you wish," Zoro hissed. "Not like there are any neighbours who would suffer from your cancer sticks since this is the highest floor," he noted and Sanji dragged a cigarette out of his pocket.

"Ah I have missed this!" Sanji adored and almost sprang towards the balcony. Of course he had been prohibited to smoke during his stay at hospital and last evening he had simply forgotten to drag out his beloved cigarettes.

He took few calming breaths before he almost jumped off the balcony. "Can't understand what you see in those cancer sticks," Zoro wondered out aloud quietly but loud enough to scare the blond.

"Don't creep up on people like that, I almost turned into a minced meat!" Sanji cursed like a sailor and took another drag.

"Really, what's so good in them?" Zoro inquired, clearly curious to find some answer to his question.

"Don't really know," Sanji admitted. "Just a habit I guess?" he suggested and sticked out his togue.

"Then stop, it's dangerous," Zoro advised and Sanji blowed some cigarette smokes to his direction.

"Somebody is being overly protective over me, isn't he?" he teased but said nothing more to argue with the green-haired man.

...

The day went calmly while both of them had their own business to take care of - Zoro had to work and Sanji wanted to visit Baratie to check if everything was alright even though Zeff had told him not to stress himself with it.

After Zoro's working hours ended, they both headed together towards a grocery store to buy some more supplies to fill in Zoro's empty fridge.

"How can a man like you have almost no food in his home?" Sanji inquired and pushed the shopping basket at the green-haired man who gave him a questioning look. "I am injured, you know," Sanji explained his behaviour with a wide smirk on his face.

"You are totally enjoying this, aren't you?" Zoro grumbled but Sanji said nothing - instead he started picking out all kinds of vegetables, fruits, meat and stuff for their next meals. "Are you aware that you are not allowed to cook any of this?" Zoro asked seriously.

"Who said I was cooking them?" Sanji played dumb and Zoro realised what the blond was trying to tell.

"You are going to make me cook?!" Zoro hissed. "Last time I tried has been many years ago!" he cursed but Sanji didn't bat an eye.

"Who are you talking to again? That's right, the great Sanji-sama is here to give you instructions so nothing can go wrong," Sanji explained while his healthy hand wrapped around Zoro's neck.

"Never heard of him," Zoro stated but luckily they both knew to keep their cool in public and not start a fight in the middle of the market.

Zoro paid the groceries and Sanji packet them, still not allowed to carry a lot which of course humiliated his manly pride but he knew it was best to swallow it if he wanted to heal fast.

They were just about to step inside Zoro's apartment building when they were interrupted by a girly voice. "Sanji-san!"

The blond and the green-haired man turned around to see a really familiar woman approaching them and of course Sanji was not a man to forget ladies' names.

"Amanda-chan! How are you today, my lovely lady?" Sanji greeted cheerfully and the woman hugged her instantly.

"Who is this bitch?" Zoro asked, not knowing the woman but still not liking her.

"Watch what you say, Moss-head!" Sanji threatened. "This is Amanda, I met her in a bar the same day I met you," he explained and Zoro raised a brow.

"So she's not a friend? Let's go already," Zoro hissed and Sanji kicked the idiot into his stomach.

"Real men should always have some time for such flowers as Amanda-chan, you brute!" Sanji shouted and turned his attention back on the woman. "What are you doing here?"

"I just couldn't refuse to tell you the news when I saw you!" Amanda explained and Sanji raised a brow.

"What news?" the blond inquired and Amanda smiled brightly.

"Remember when you told me that you work at Baratie and I told you that I work as waitress?" she asked and Sanji nodded. "I quit my old job to work at Baratie even though I was not sure if I would get a job and guess what? They hired me instantly!" she almost screamed and of course Sanji was only delicted to have yet one more woman to work with him.

"It's nice to know that another flower has appeared to lighten my day!" Sanji swooned and only then realised that the woman was staring at the green-haired man behind him.

"Who is this friend of yours?" Amanda asked politely and put her hand around Sanji's shoulders, leaning her weight on the blond.

"This brute isn't in your league, my dear," Sanji advised. "Amanda meet Moss-head and Moss-head meet Amanda."

"My name is not Moss-head!" Zoro hissed. "The name is Zoro."

"What a cool name!" Amanda praised but Zoro knew immediately she said that only to please Sanji and be friends or ratherly be more than friends with the blond. "Are you free today? We could go for a drink!" Amanda suggested and just when Sanji was about to agree with her, Zoro interrupted them.

"Sorry but he is prohibited to drink alcohol for few days and I have to switch his bandages," Zoro noted and Sanji sighed deeply.

"Are you hurt? Was it the fire that caused it?" she inquired but when she turned to stare at Zoro, she knew she should back off for then at least. "Well then, I better let you go for now but don't forget to offer me a drink at Baratie someday! Get better soon!" she wished well and rushed away from the duo.

"What was that, Moss-head?!" Sanji asked, wanting to know a reason why the green-haired man had treated Amanda so cruely. "You should not be so unpolite, especially among the ladies!"

"Shut up will you? I just need to get and change your bandages and I have dishes to wash, that's all," Zoro reasoned and Sanji chuckled behind his back.

"So what? You could have just went ahead, I would have been straight behind of - - "

"-you would have left with that woman, not even trying to think of your own best!" Zoro interrupted Sanji and the blond knew that the man had a point.

"But still, you didn't have to treat her like that!" Sanji still argued with Zoro about the matter. "You could have just explained everything to her!" Sanji said but barely had time to finish his sentence when he was violently pushed against the wall. They had just managed to close the door and they were standing in the front hall of Zoro's apartment and staring at each other.

"EVERYTHING?!" Zoro raised his voice. "Explain her everything when I don't understand it myself?!"

"What is there to understand?!" Sanji inquired. "You have to wash the dishes and treat my wounds, it is that fucking - - " Sanji tried to understand Zoro but when the green-haired man realised mere words were not going to help, he decided to silence the blond with more effective way.

Sanji didn't even have time to close his eyes before a pair of hungry lips met his own. He felt utterly confused at the sudden movement but didn't feel like pushing the green-haired man away which was a clear mystery to him. Zoro was pushing himself against the blond pretty agressively and even though Sanji didn't fancy men, he felt his body betray him.

All of the sudden Zoro ended the kiss and stared at the blond with a serious expression on his face. "Did you want me to explain this to her?" Zoro inquired with a hopeful smirk on his face and Sanji couldn't help but slightly grin back at the man over his overly confused state while his face felt hot as kitchen oven.

...

**Author's note:**

Yay, finally! Party time, they kissed! :D Let's see how this will develop from now on, shall we? ;)


End file.
